Is my new Lipo toast?

[GraniteBLXGuy]

Hi guys,

I bought a new Lipo for my rustler (gensacearespammers 2s2p 7600mah) and after the first run it cracked through the plastic wrap. Please see attached pics (with the cracked wrap that I peeled back, and then with electrical tape over it). Is this LIPO toast? I'm not sure if the pushed in silver portion is part of the cell. The voltages are even between cells and the resistance looks okay when I checked.

 

[Kla912000]

Another question is, why did it happen? You aren't using an adapter between the battery and ESC by chance, are you?

 

[GraniteBLXGuy]

Another question is, why did it happen? You aren't using an adapter between the battery and ESC by chance, are you?

Hi,

Yes I am. TRX to XT60 adapter. This one:

https://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=TGHX2008V2

 

[Kla912000]

Hi,

Yes I am. TRX to XT60 adapter. This one:

https://www.greathobbies.com/productinfo/?prod_id=TGHX2008V2

That's no good. NEVER use an adapter between the battery and ESC. The high resistance is probably what caused the damage to your quality gensacearespammers battery. In this case, I wouldn't use that battery anymore. Too high of a chance of catching on fire with continued use. And, as I already said, NEVER USE AN ADAPTER BETWEEN THE BATTERY AND ESC. Solder on the correct matching connectors.

 

[GraniteBLXGuy]

That's no good. NEVER use an adapter between the battery and ESC. The high resistance is probably what caused the damage to your quality gensacearespammers battery. In this case, I wouldn't use that battery anymore. Too high of a chance of catching on fire with continued use. And, as I already said, NEVER USE AN ADAPTER BETWEEN THE BATTERY AND ESC. Solder on the correct matching connectors.

Ahh darn okay. I thought it may have been from the first run because I hit a couple hard curbs on my street I didn't pad the battery tray at all. The balance connector even chipped in a couple places because I tucked it in front of a little space in front of the battery. I don't have a soldering tool so guess I'll buy a traxxas battery.

 

[Roadkill69]

Trash it

 

[Jgg12002]

Not worth risking your house or rig I’d chuck it.

 

[chazekxt46]

and this is why i only run Hardpack's

 

[Armarookie43]

and this is why i only run Hardpack's

That wouldn't have saved the battery from using the adapter. It would have been damaged internally.

 

[Kla912000]

Ahh darn okay. I thought it may have been from the first run because I hit a couple hard curbs on my street I didn't pad the battery tray at all. The balance connector even chipped in a couple places because I tucked it in front of a little space in front of the battery. I don't have a soldering tool so guess I'll buy a traxxas battery.

Well, it could have been from a hard hit. But either way it is not good to run an adapter between the battery and ESC. Causes too much resistance which turns into heat. Best case you can melt the connectors, worst case battery will catch on fire or explode from too much heat.

 

[Adiabatic]

Looks like mechanical damage to the outer casing probably caused by your curb impacts. I always run soft packs with some kind of padding in the tray (3mm yoga mat works well) because they are quite vulnerable, especially in trays lacking a longitudinal strap to keep them from sliding fore and aft and smashing into the ends of the tray.

The crushed in silver part is the cell casing which contains a stack of electrodes and separators. Those are what store the energy and if compromised can cause those nasty LiPo fires we've all seen either in person or online. It doesn't look like there's puncture damage which is a good sign, but it's hard to say if the dent has dangerously compromised the cell. Cell damage can be subtle and latent, avoiding detection until one day you plug the battery in to charge and it bursts into flames. There's no perfectly reliable way to determine whether or not it's safe to use, but an elevated self-discharge rate for any of the cells and problems with charging and balancing are good signs you should get rid of it.

If it was my battery, I would wrap the torn area with tape, put it back into service but keep an eye on it. Any sign of problems and it gets fully discharged and recycled. I'm also dumb, have a high risk tolerance wrt things like this and charge in a Bat-Safe.

 

[olds97_lss]

Some packs have metal shields or plastic shields under the shrink wrap. Pretty sure that's the silver part your seeing. I've had quite a few packs apart and a gens a ce was one I've had apart. Buddy of mine ran those and ripped his balance plug off. I opened it up, soldered in a new one and taped it up. It had those metal shields protecting the cells.

Electrical tape kind of sucks for anything like this as it tends to separate over time and leaves a gummy mess. I use nylon reinforced tape in a pinch, but you can also get some proper heat shrink to rewrap it.

This is a liperior pack I made out of 2x3S packs, I didn't have heat shrink yet...

This is a 6S pack I took apart for a friend to remove the bad cell (and another cell) to make it a 4S pack for him. Then I had the shrink wrap, but it was waaaaay to big and I cut it down, CA glued it, then shrunk it. Seemed to hold up just fine.

Another before shrink wrap was a traxxas pack I opened up to put a proper balance plug in since I didn't have the charger anymore to charge it up, it's on the left:

 

[Armarookie43]

Well, it could have been from a hard hit. But either way it is not good to run an adapter between the battery and ESC. Causes too much resistance which turns into heat. Best case you can melt the connectors, worst case battery will catch on fire or explode from too much heat.

Or damage the ESC. I made that mistake already (using adapters). My esc fried from the excessive resistance

 

[Kla912000]

Or damage the ESC. I made that mistake already (using adapters). My esc fried from the excessive resistance

Yeah, but no matter how many times you try to tell this to people they will still do it. They like to learn the hard way. Or in this case, the expensive way.

 

[Armarookie43]

Yeah, but no matter how many times you try to tell this to people they will still do it. They like to learn the hard way. Or in this case, the expensive way.

I've also learned the hard way TBH. it has cost me a good amount of pocket change